Bi-Polar on the Bay City Booyah Vote

Norfolk City Council? 

Bi-Polar on the Bay Norfolk City Council voted as expected.

They approved the $126 million hotel and conference center in a perk filled package for Bruce Thompson, the Donald Trump of Virginia Beach.

And the comedy of errors, in three scenes, played out as expected.

City Council member Theresa Whibley has a last minute pang of conscience, as she often does in decisive votes, yet she caves and votes with the majority.

Tommy Smigiel, playing the populist, protests the rush to vote on the project, holds a town hall meeting to show his dedication to the public and is on record as voting against the project, which will come in handy when he runs for mayor in 2014.

The rest of them…Well, you can imagine.

Vice Mayor Anthony Burfoot – who always has something to say to the press, but, oddly, not this time -- is probably too busy with other more pressing issues in his life to worry about this deal. 

Thompson supporters and future hotel guests

City Council member Paul Riddick says nothing, happy that he has a contract with the city to bury John Does and Jane Does. Supposedly.

City Council Member Barclay Winn, Andy Progyrou and Angelia Williams have nothing to say that the press reports, or wants to report.

Mayor Paul Fraim, as usual, gets defensive and masks his anger and irritation at being called on the carpet by the rabble known as the public.

“Tonight may be the fourth or fifth vote I’ve cast on this project,” Mayor Fraim said. “This should not be a surprise. The city has been after this facility for a while.”

Now we can get back to our lives preparing for the Better Block project, assured that our Bi-Polar on the Bay city has made the right decision for us, the rabble.

Other council members “dismissed claims” that they were rushing into the vote, the press reported.

You are dismissed residents. Get back to your homes and be grateful that your representatives are looking after your concerns.

As usual, the numbers are rolled out, just to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy that the city will get a return.

$2 million in revenue. 500 construction jobs. 250 full-time jobs.

Every time I read numbers attached to a project, Mickey Mouse in Fantasia comes to mind where’s he’s waving his wand and all sorts of magical things appear.

It’s the same in Norfolk.

Somebody waves a magic wand and voila, it happens.

But the numbers never pan out. They are projections. But don’t they sound good?

Of course, we have to admire the wit and wisdom of Bruce Thompson.

“I certainly understand why there would be skeptics, but we were told the Hilton we developed on 31st Street and Atlantic Avenue would not be the success that we envisioned,” Thompson wrote in a letter.

“The doubters were wrong. We raised the bar and the market followed.”

Yes, but the Hilton wasn’t an easy sell. In fact, all sorts of missteps and miscalculations were involved in the deal. Residents wanted a park, but instead they got a hotel and a parking garage.

Mr. Thompson will probably host a celebration party at the Hilton’s sky bar this weekend.

This is the man who said to the public “I grew up in Norfolk” implying that he loves Norfolk.

So where’s his Norfolk home?